FAKE RISOTTO

This takes no time at all. Very nice side dish for white fish.
You need:
- one onion cut thinly
-butternut squash in small cubes (around 250 gr for 4 people, though this is just indicative)
-rice (any rice will do, even long grain, no need to bother with expensive arborio rice). You need a small (coffee) cup per person.
- water: two (coffee) cups per person ( i.e. twice the volume of rice)
- a little bit of olive oil
- salt
- a bay leave
-optional: a nob of butter; a tablespoon of creme fraiche; parmesan cheese.

Heat the oil in a pan over moderate heat. Add the onion and butternut squash and fry it all for 7-10 minutes until the edges start getting darker. Then add the rice and fry it (without any water) for another 2-3 minutes, stirring it regularly. Now add the water ( it should produce a nice sizzling sound) the salt and the bay leaf. Stir it all a couple of times just to break the coat of the rice and simply wait for the amount of time indicated in the rice packet (most rices now need only10 minutes).  When it is ready take it off the heat, cover it with a clean cloth and wait for a couple of minutes before serving it. If you wish you can add (just before covering it) a nob of butter, or a spoon of creme fraiche or some parmesan cheese (or any combination of these three), though kids would barely notice the difference.

Rice is a nice dish for the children to cook as it almost always comes out great. They like stirring the rice but be careful with the hot water.

CRUMBLE

Very simple comfort food.  We did it with plums and apples but you can do it with any other soft fruit. It is very nice with strawberries, but then cut down the flour to 170gr, the butter to 85 gr and use only white sugar (60 gr)
You need
- 10 plums
- 2 apples
- 250 gr (plain) flour
- 100 gr butter (room temperature - cut in cubes)
- 2 tbspoons white sugar
- 85 gr soft brown sugar
Cut the plums in quarters and the apples in eight pieces. Put them on a baking dish and sprinkle the white sugar on top. Now put the brown sugar, butter and flour in a food processor and pulse it (6-7- times) until the mixture becomes like breadcrumbs. Sprinkle this mixture on top of the fruit and bake in a preheated over at 180 degrees for 40 minutes (until the top is golden and the fruit has bubbled up).

Kids like doing this (and they actually enjoy mixing the butter, sugar and flour by hand rather than in a food processor). If you help them a bit with the chopping and the oven they can do this dish from start to finish on their own.

SAUSAGE BAKE

Perfect for a lazy cold afternoon. It is (and looks) full of calories but at least you are getting some vegetables in.
You need:
2 carrots, 1 large onion and 2 sticks of celery cut in small cubes (alternatively you can buy this at the supermarket in the prepared vegetables section - it is called  'sofrito')
1 tin of chopped tomatoes (in their natural juice)
10 sausages
a tbspoon of creme fraiche (optional)
4 slices of cheese (mild cheddar, edam, gouda, or equivalent)
salt
Preheat the oven at 220 degrees. Put the vegetables on a baking tray, add the salt and cook them in the oven for 15 minutes.  Then add the sausages and put them back in the oven for around 25-35 minutes or until they start getting golden on one side (this really depends of how thick the sausages are). Turn around the sausages to the other side, add the tomato of top (mixed with the creme fraiche if you are using it) and put it all back in the oven for another 20-25 minutes (until the sauce gets a bit thick). Just before serving the dish, put the cheese on top of the sausages and put it all under a hot grill for a couple of minutes (until it all gets dark golden).
Serve with pasta, or beans or just on its own.
Kids can do most of this but you need to supervise them really closely and help them to get the tray in and out of the oven as it does get dangerouslyy hot. 

STRABERRY PAVLOVA

A very summery dessert. We made this for a family celebration (slightly adapted  from a Nigella Lawson recipe) and it disappeared in seconds.
You need
four egg whites
250 gr sugar
a pinch of salt
one tsp of cornflour
250 ml double cream
a punnet of strawberries
one tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1.5 tablespoons icing sugar

Beat the egg whites with the salt for a few minutes (with an electric mixer or by hand) until they form hard peaks. add the sugar - one spoonful at a time while you keep beating. Sprinkle the cornflour on top and fold them carefully over the egg whites. Draw a circle on a piece of baking paper and pile up the mixture on top of it. Bake it on a preheated over at 180 degrees. As soon as you put the egg whites in the oven turn it down to 150 degrees. After an hour more or less just open the door of the oven and let it cool down completely ( preferably overnight)
Invert the meringue pavlova over a plate. Whip the cream and pile it on top. marinate the strawberries for 20 minutes with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and 1.5 tablespoons of icing sugar. Put the strawberries on top of the cream. You can also do this with many other fruits; raspberries, nectarines, blueberries, etc.

Preparing this with the kids is fun. They love piling up the cream and the fruit and they could hardly keep their hands off the meringue. They really like seeing how the eggs change in colour and texture - I failed to be able to answer all their questions as to why they go from runny liquid to hard foam and then crunchy (yet marshmallowy) meringue but I promised them I will update my physics for the next time we try this.

COD WITH TOMATO SAUCE AND PEPPERS

This looks much more complex than it is. It is done in a matter of minutes only. It is a nice dish for both adults and kids with a bit of white rice on the side. You may want to avoid the peppers  for the children as some think their flavour is too strong.
For one person you need:
- a stake of cod (around 50 grs)
- olive oil
- one clove of garlic
- 1 roasted pepper (we use tinned peppers, preferably Spanish 'piquillo' ones which are widely available in supermarkets, though Italian tinned peppers are good too)
 - 2 tbsp of tomato sauce (preferably home made - see recipe in sauces' section - tinned unflavoured tomato sauce is also good)
- 50 ml white whine
- salt
- white flour
- parsley

Slice the garlic and fry it for 1 minute in the olive oil (do not let it get too golden). Take it aside. Salt the cod steak. Dust it with the flour and fry it for 2 minutes on each side (medium heat) in the same oil where you fried the garlic. Add the tomato sauce on top and then the white whine. Add also the peppers on top and then the garlic. Sprinkle a bit of chopped parsley on top and let it simmer all over low heat for 3 minutes. That is all.

As with all fish the kids need to clean their hands really well after touching the cod. One of my sons refused to touch the cod but after we dusted the steaks with flour they became much less intimidating...   

ITALIAN CRACKERS

This is simplicity itself, but beware because the crackers are addictive.

You need:
-250 gr strong white flour
- 500 ml sparkling water
- 100 ml olive oil plus a bit more to drizzle over the crackers at the end
- 1 tsp salt
- half a tsp of black pepper
- rosemary (chopped) and sea salt

Mix together the flour, water, olive oil, salt and pepper until you get a pancake-like  batter. We did so with a hand held blender but you can also do it easily by hand.
Preheat the over at 200 degrees. Line a tray with grease proof paper and spread a very thin layer of the batter on top. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until it turns golder/brownish.
As you take it out of the over sprinkle on top the sea salt, rosemary and drizzle it with olive oil. Let it cool (if you can) and eat.
The children really liked preparing this and they thought we had reached restaurant standards - there you go!

SALMOREJO

This is a very typical soup from the south of Spain. It is a bit like a thick gazpacho, except that the gazpacho is done with cucumbers while in the salmorejo there is nothing but tomatoes. My children eat this as a cold soup in the summer but they also like it on top of crusty bread, preferably with a bit of ham on top.
You need:
- 1 kg tomatoes (as red and ripe as possible)
- 200 gr stale bread
- 200 ml olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic
- salt
- red wine vinegar

Cut the tomatoes in quarters. Put them in a bowl with the bread, the olive oil and the peeled cloves of garlic. Mix it all well with your hands squeezing a bit the tomatoes. Cover the bowl with cling film and let it marinate for at least 3 hours. Then get rid of the cloves of garlic and blend all the other ingredients in a blender. Add salt and vinegar to taste. Serve with little bits of cured ham or with chopped boiled egg or just on its own.

The kids like helping with all of this and particularly enjoy squeezing the tomatoes and the bread. It is indeed a very satisfactory feeling.